Identification of the alkaloids of Galipea officinalis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Galipea officinalis Hancock, a Venezuelan shrubby tree which is acclaimed i n folk medicine for its many healing properties, is the only species of the genus to contain tetrahydroquinoline alkaloids. A GC-MS method has been de veloped in order to analyse the essential oil, hexane and chloroform extrac ts of the trunk bark of this plant, without prior derivatisation of the alk aloidal components. A study of the MS fragmentation patterns of the compone nts permitted the identification of five new minor quinoline alkaloids toge ther with the known alkaloids. In addition, the method could also be used f or the characterisation of alkaloids within the genus Galipea. Copyright (C ) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.